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The Place-Name Debate THE BATTLE OF BRUNANBURH A Casebook Edited by Michael Livingston r Published for TEAMS (The Consortium for the Teaching of the Middle Ages) in Association with the University of Rochester by MEDIEVAL INSTITUTE PUBLICATIONS Kalamazoo, Michigan 2010 PAUL CAVILL r THE PLACE-NAME DEBATE The location of the Battle of Brunanburh is a problem that has fascinated historians, literary scholars and toponymists alike, many of whom have expressed strong views on the sub- ject. These views tend to divide between those who think that the location cannot be identified and that the attempt should probably not be made; and those who see this lack of certainty as an opportunity to explore possible sites selected on the basis of a wide variety of criteria. Among the former, significant voices are those of Alistair Campbell and Dorothy Whitelock; among the latter are the voices of Alfred P. Smyth, Michael Wood, and Cyril Hart (all of these discussed below), but many earlier and later voices could be added on both sides. The evidence relating to the question of the battle’s location is extraordinarily diverse. Some assessment has to be made of this diverse range: the relative reliability of the source texts; the spellings and variants and meanings of the elements and names in the sources; other indications of location given in the sources; the validity of scholarly assumptions about, and accounts of, the place and the battle. This volume presents as fully as possible the range of evidence relating to the battle, bringing the latest scholarship to bear. What this essay aims to add is a perspective using, in addition to palaeographical and textual evidence, recent developments in toponymical research. One of the controlling factors in discussing the location of the battle must be the fact that the place-names in the sources refer to places; that the kind of terms used define, often very precisely, the topographical and other features of the place; and the corollary is that names of places tell us something significant about the places themselves. In this essay, therefore, I will begin by discussing the sources briefly (section 1; see ear- lier essays for more detail), setting out as objectively as possible the evidence relating to the names given for the site of the battle (section 2). This involves linguistic and, where relevant, topographical analysis of the elements (section 3). As the essay progresses, I will discuss the various locational interpretations of ancient (section 4) and modern scholars (section 5), and it will become clear that I think the evidence points in a particular direction for the site. I will ultimately propose that, while an element of doubt remains, the site of Brunanburh can with reasonable confidence be located in the light of all the evidence available (section 6). 1. THE SOURCES The original source of many of the traditions can be traced. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle versions supply the earliest accounts of the battle, and clearly the Old English poem extant in four copies derives ultimately from a single original. Some of the texts depend on sources not extant but of a type that can be identified: Henry of Huntingdon used a version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle related to MS E, but also other versions, which show closer corres- 311 312 THE PLACE-NAME DEBATE pondence with MS C.1 Later accounts show writers like Bartholomew of Cotton and John of Oxnead copying their information from Henry of Huntingdon, and Symeon of Durham (directly) and, for example, Richard of Cirencester (indirectly) copying some of theirs from John of Worcester.2 The ultimate source of some of the variant traditions is uncertain: for example, Æthel- weard reports the battle as taking place “in loco Brunandune,” and it is impossible to say whether that represents a genuine tradition or whether he garbled the name or made it up: that Symeon of Durham has an apparently independent tradition which includes a name with -dun, “We(o)ndun,” may be thought to reinforce the credibility of Æthelweard’s report. Some extant texts may have used sources now lost. As the evidence now stands, the source of the tradition that the invading forces came into the Humber is John of Worcester: the passage in Symeon of Durham’s Historia regum copies directly from John (this strand of tradition is labeled c below). But Symeon has his own independent traditions: the Historia regum, in a passage separate from that borrowed from John, reports that the battle took place at “Wendun” and that the invaders had 615 ships (this is labeled a below); those same traditions are found in Symeon’s Libellus de exordio, but there the variant names “Et Brun- nanwerc uel Brunnanbyrig” are also given (this particular tradition is labeled b below). We cannot be sure whether John or Symeon made up the details that are peculiar to their works or knew traditions, oral or written, that recorded them, though further analysis may make some conclusions possible here. It may be, for example, that Geoffrey Gaimar knew his near-contemporary Symeon’s Libellus since he gives a name for the battle that apparently represents “Brunanwerc” (see further the discussion in section 3.5 below);3 but since all the manuscripts of Gaimar spell the name, however garbled, with a single -n-, it is possible that Gaimar knew the source used by Symeon for this particular detail and the -nn- forms are Symeon’s variant spellings. There is no very strong reason to believe that these particular details were available in, and used from, other sources than Symeon and John in the later tradition. For example, Pierre de Langtoft writes of 715 (sic) ships at “Bruneburge sur Humbre,” thus apparently conflating and garbling material borrowed from Symeon, and by Symeon from John.4 It would certainly be unwise to claim that Langtoft had any other immediate source for his in- formation at this point than Symeon. Langtoft or an intermediate source added an extra C to the “DC et XV” ships of Symeon, just as William of Malmesbury or an intermediate source read the number of dead comites as XII instead of the VII eorlas of the vernacular tradition. Interestingly both of these errors indicate that the tradition here is most likely being passed on by document, not by word of mouth, since the numbers indicate graphical confusion. The Irish, Welsh, and Norse sources appear to be independent of the English, Anglo- Norman, and Anglo-Latin sources; and in turn, the Irish, Welsh and Norse sources appear to be independent of each other. These sources provide the tersest notice of the battle in the Annales Cambriae, and one of the most extensive and imaginative accounts of it in Egil’s Saga. Though it is difficult to be sure, the medieval Welsh sources seem to recognise an English 1 Henry, Archdeacon of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum, ed. and trans. Greenway, p. xci. 2 For the texts mentioned in this essay, see the collected accounts in this volume. 3 Gaimar, L’Estoire, ed. Bell, p. lii, gives the date of its composition as 1135–40; Symeon, Libellus, ed. and trans. Rollason, p. xlii, shows that the Libellus was written by 1115. 4 Chronicle, ed. Wright, 1.330. PAUL CAVILL 313 place or person, Brun(e), which gives no difficulties of interpretation in the spread of name- spellings.5 The Scottish Chronicle’s Duinbrunde appears also to make independent reference to an unproblematical -brun- name. On the other hand, Egil’s Saga gives a welter of topo- graphical information about the site of the battle, and references to woods, hills, and streams abound. Scholars have made much of this, but it is unlikely to be more than imaginative reconstruction. However, the place-names Vínheiðr and Vínuskógi, because they are more likely to be preserved in tradition (and thus possibly become the basis of imaginative recon- struction), merit detailed treatment (see 3.9, below). The same applies to the name Othlyn(n) found in the Annals of Clonmacnoise. Thus, while the relationships between texts can be complex there are some clear lines of descent and some clear indications of independence. In discussing the sources it will be a useful shorthand to refer by way of (for example) “John of Worcester” to “the tradition found first extant in John of Worcester, and for which no other source is known or can plausibly be reconstructed.” 2. EARLY SPELLINGS OF THE NAME BRUNANBURH AND ALTERNATIVE NAMES FOR THE SITE Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, MS A Brunnanburh Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, MS B Brunanburh Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, MS C Brunnanburh Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, MS D Brunanburh Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, MS E Brunanbyrig Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, MS F Brunanbyri Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, MS O3 Brunanburh Æthelweard Brunandune Symeon of Durham (a), Libellus de exordio Weondune, Wendune and Historia regum Symeon of Durham (b), Libellus de exordio Et Brunnanwerc uel Brunnanbyrig William of Malmesbury Brunefeld, Bruneford John of Worcester Brunanburh Henry of Huntingdon Brunebirih Geoffrey Gaimar Bruneswerce, Brunewerche, Burneweste (x2) Twelfth-century charters Bruningafeld 5 See further the essay by Bollard and Haycock in this volume, and Items 5.28, 23.60, and notes. 314 THE PLACE-NAME DEBATE Scottish traditions Bruningafeld, Brouningfeld Scottish Chronicle Duinbrunde Welsh traditions Cad Tybrunawc Annales Cambriae Brune Annals of Clonmacnoise Plaines of othlynn, othlyn Egil’s Saga Vínheiðr Derivative accounts (1) from John of Worcester Symeon of Durham (c), Historia regum Brunanburh Richard of Cirencester Brunkerih Eulogium historiarum Brunanburge (2) from Henry of Huntingdon Bartholomew of Cotton Brunesberich John of Oxnead Brunesberich Annals of Waverley Bruneberi (3) from William of Malmesbury Ranulf Higden Brumford, Brunfort Book of Hyde Brunfort (4) from Symeon of Durham Chronicle of Melrose Brunanburch Pierre de Langtoft Bruneburge, Brunesburgh, Bronneburgh This list (see above for the sources and manuscripts) differs in several respects from that given by Campbell: it is fuller, and the manuscript spellings have been more widely col- lected.6 An account needs to be given of the various elements in these different place-name forms: the most common first element, bruna or brune; the most common second element 6 Battle of Brunanburh, p.
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